> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pivocloud.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Start a database export > Starts a fresh export of one of your databases and returns a signed download URL straight away. The export itself runs after this request returns, so the link is not ready at the moment you receive it: it answers 503 while the export is still being prepared, then serves the archive once it finishes. A script can therefore request an export and poll that one link, without asking for a status anywhere else. See the download endpoint for the request that does this safely. ## OpenAPI ````yaml /openapi.yaml post /api/v1/dbs/{id}/export openapi: 3.1.0 info: title: PivoCloud API version: 1.0.0 description: >- Start an export of one of your databases and download the result, using a personal access token you create in the PivoCloud console. servers: - url: https://api.pivocloud.com description: The PivoCloud API. security: - personalAccessToken: [] paths: /api/v1/dbs/{id}/export: post: summary: Start a database export description: | Starts a fresh export of one of your databases and returns a signed download URL straight away. The export itself runs after this request returns, so the link is not ready at the moment you receive it: it answers 503 while the export is still being prepared, then serves the archive once it finishes. A script can therefore request an export and poll that one link, without asking for a status anywhere else. See the download endpoint for the request that does this safely. operationId: createExport parameters: - name: id in: path required: true description: The identifier of the database to export. schema: type: string format: uuid responses: '200': description: >- The export was accepted, and the response carries the download URL for it. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/SignedExportResponse' '400': description: >- The database identifier in the path is not a valid identifier. The reply carries the code INVALID_REQUEST. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' '401': description: >- No usable access token reached the API. Send a personal access token as a bearer token. The reply carries the code UNAUTHORIZED. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' '404': description: >- No database with that identifier is available to you. A database that does not exist and a database that belongs to someone else answer in exactly the same way, on purpose, so this reply is not a sign that something is broken. The reply carries the code NOT_FOUND. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' '429': description: >- Too many requests. The reply carries one of three codes, and they mean different things. A reply with the code cooldown_active means this database was exported recently, and the wait is the whole cooldown window. A reply with the code export_in_flight means an export is already running, the wait is short, and the right move is to poll the link the earlier request already returned rather than sit out a cooldown. A reply with the code RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED is the general limit on how often you may call the API at all, and is not about this database: it applies to every endpoint here, so any request can meet it. Read the wait from the Retry-After header rather than assuming one, and treat a code you do not recognise as a wait rather than as a failure. headers: Retry-After: description: >- How long to wait, in seconds, before asking again. This is the value to use, and it differs between the three codes above. schema: type: integer content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' '500': description: >- Something went wrong on our side and the export was not started. The reply carries the code INTERNAL_ERROR. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' components: schemas: SignedExportResponse: type: object description: The reply to an export request. Both fields are always present. required: - url - expires_at properties: url: type: string format: uri description: >- The download link for this export, complete with its signature and expiry. Store it as it is and request it as it is. expires_at: type: string format: date-time description: >- The moment the download link stops working. Links are short-lived, minutes rather than days, so read this value rather than taking a horizon from any example you have seen. A link requested after this moment answers 401 with the code SIGNED_URL_EXPIRED, which is the link having lapsed rather than anything wrong with the request. ErrorResponse: type: object description: >- The reply to a request that did not succeed. Every field is always present. Read `code` in a script and show `error` to a person. required: - success - error - code properties: success: type: boolean description: Always false on this reply. error: type: string description: A short sentence describing what went wrong. code: type: string description: >- A short machine readable label for the reason, stable across wording changes. This is the field to branch on. securitySchemes: personalAccessToken: type: http scheme: bearer description: >- A personal access token. Create one in the API tokens section of your profile page in the PivoCloud console. The token is shown once, when you create it. ````